Instructions

ZOOM IN by clicking on the page. A slider will appear, allowing you to adjust your zoom level. Return to the original size by clicking on the page again.

MOVE the page around when zoomed in by dragging it.

ADJUST the zoom using the slider on the top right.

ZOOM OUT by clicking on the zoomed-in page.

SEARCH by entering text in the search field and click on "In This Issue" or "All Issues" to search the current issue or the archive of back issues
respectively.
.

PRINT by clicking on thumbnails to select pages, and then press the
print button.

SHARE this publication and page.

ROTATE PAGE allows you to turn pages 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.Click on the page to return to the original orientation. To zoom in on a rotated page, return the page to its original orientation, zoom in, and
then rotate it again.

CONTENTS displays a table of sections with thumbnails and descriptions.

ALL PAGES displays thumbnails of every page in the issue. Click on
a page to jump.

As he delivered the feature address
at the national consultation on the
Domestic Violence Act at the San Fer-
nando City Hall last week, Minister of
Gender, Youth and Child Development
Clifton De Coteau noted there had been
a steady increase in the reported number
of sexual offences against females over
the past five years.
The police Crime and Problem Analysis
Branch, he said, has reported steady
increases in the number of charges for
sexual offences between 2009 and 2013,
with 200 cases reported in 2012 alone.
This is isn t news. Mr De Coteau had
already warned about the trend in Octo-
ber, 2013 when the still-to-be-imple-
mented National Gender Policy was a
matter of public discussion.
There has been no discussion of the
national domestic violence action plan
since Nafeesa Mohammed, chairman of
the San Juan Laventille Regional Corpo-
ration, reminded the nation in 2012 that
it was drafted in 2007.
Still, the Gender Minister s warnings at
the consultation seemed muted. In 2013,
Mr De Coteau had warned that there
were 940 reports of domestic violence in
2010, of which 673 were incidents of
rape, incest, grievous sexual assault or
sex with a minor female.
One contributor to this trend has been
the positive work that Margaret Samp-
son-Browne has been doing with the
Victim and Witness Support Unit, which
has empowered many victims of abuse
and domestic violence to come forward
to report difficult circumstances.
Inquiries about social services provided
by ministries and NGOs accounted for 16
per cent of the 681 calls answered by the
National Domestic Violence Hotline
between 2012 and 2013.
"Our society is reaching out to us," Mr
De Coteau said, "and we must heed their
call for intervention and preservation."
To that end, the Gender Minister sug-
gested that the consultations on the
Domestic Violence Act will play a critical
role in ensuring that the legislation is
"both relevant and current to our times
and our people."
But Shereen Mohammed, a member of
the Islamic Ladies Social and Cultural
Association, pointed out that changing
laws means little when existing laws
aren t being effectively implemented. Ms
Mohammed, a lawyer, noted that existing
agencies were understaffed and the police
still needed proper training in order to
do their job as needed under the existing
laws governing domestic violence.
"He was very much on point with
regard to what is happening right now in
society," said Ms Mohammed of Mr De
Coteau s presentation, but she added,
significantly," I hope he will be able to
improve the situation."
On the rise in domestic violence and
abuse, Ms Sampson-Browne noted, after
being named woman of the year in 2013
by the activist group Aspire, "Some of us
didn t act fast enough, we didn t have
the networking enough, the networking
system wasn t effective enough."
That call wasn t specific to police offi-
cers. Ms Sampson-Browne saw a need
for improved engagement by communi-
ties in building awareness and general
intolerance for domestic violence and
abuse.
A clear commitment to and rapid, sus-
tained implementation of the protection
of victims and investigation and prosecu-
tion of domestic violence and abuse
cases is long overdue. Mr De Coteau
would do well to acknowledge the need
to move beyond simply discussing and
lamenting the surge in cases to decisive
action.
Meet rise in sexual offences decisively
Changing laws means little when existing laws aren't being effectively implemented.
A clear commitment to and rapid, sustained implementation of the protection of victims
and investigation and prosecution of domestic violence and abuse cases is long overdue.
A26
TUESDAY,
AUGUST 12,
2014
• Twitter: @GuardianTT • Web: guardian.co.tt
A product of Guardian Media Ltd
Contact us
Editor-in-Chief, Judy Raymond
judy.raymond@guardian.co.tt
Editor, Irving Ward
irving.ward@guardian.co.tt
Chief Editor---Business, Anthony Wilson
anthony.wilson@guardian.co.tt
News Editor, Robert Alonzo
robert.alonzo@guardian.co.tt
Sports Editor, Valentino Singh
valentino.singh@guardian.co.tt
E-mail the Editor: letters@guardian.co.tt
Newsroom (daily) Telephone: 623-8870/9,
ext. 2251, 2252, 2222, 2242; 623-News
Newsroom e-mail: newsroom@guardian.co.tt
Newsroom (Sunday) Telephone: 623-8870/9,
ext. 2362, 2552, 2722, 2724
SG e-mail: sundesk@guardian.co.tt
Fax: (News) 625-7211; (Advertising) 623-2050
Managing Director, Lisa Agard
Circulation Manager, Cashyap Sharma
Sales Manager, Sonja Romany
sonja.romany@guardian.co.tt
Port-of-Spain office:
22-24 St Vincent Street, (PO Box 122)
Telephone: 623-8870/9; 623-7543;
625-7380/3
San Fernando office: 652-3700
Chaguanas Bureau: 665-1977
Internet address: www.guardian.co.tt
The attorney general, Patrick Atkin-
son, must move with dispatch to de-
termine, as the justice minister, Mark
Golding, suggests, whether the police
can proceed by issuing summonses to,
rather than arresting, persons who are
to be prosecuted for possession of
small amounts of marijuana.
The idea makes sense in the face of
the Government s declared policy to
decriminalise ganja use, but has added
urgency following last week s death,
apparently the result of a severe beat-
ing while in a Montego Bay police
lock-up, of Mario Deane, who was ar-
rested for a ganja cigarette.
Who beat Mr Deane---a matter being
investigated---is beyond the point at
this time. He should not have been in
jail awaiting bail in the first place for
an offence that, fundamentally, is
wasteful of law-enforcement and ju-
dicial time and resources. Nor should
the many thousands of young men,
who are luckier than Mr Deane for
having come through alive but with
life-blighting criminal records.
So, until Parliament passes the law
allowing for the expungement of the
criminal records of people convicted
for possession of the benchmark
amount of ganja and for the ticketing
of persons accused of the offence,
having persons attend court by sum-
mons, rather than enforcing arrests,
seems a reasonable compromise.
Alternatively, the acting police chief,
Glenmore Hinds, might instruct his
officers to employ greater discretion,
on the side of leniency, in their en-
gagement with persons in possession
of ganja falling within the projected
own-use limits. -Jamaica Gleaner
Sound Off: Nonsense to arrest for a spliff